Modeling
A. Rezvanivand fanaei; A. Hasanpour; A. M. Nikbakht
Abstract
IntroductionThermo-compressors or ejectors are used to enhance the vapor enthalpy in the process industry. The low costs of construction and maintenance, and simple structure, have increased by using this equipment in relevant fields of industry and agriculture. The thermo-compressor's inlet parameters, ...
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IntroductionThermo-compressors or ejectors are used to enhance the vapor enthalpy in the process industry. The low costs of construction and maintenance, and simple structure, have increased by using this equipment in relevant fields of industry and agriculture. The thermo-compressor's inlet parameters, including the thermodynamic properties of the motive steam and suction vapor, are the foremost affecting factor of a thermo-compressor.The steam used in processing factories loses its capability after passing through evaporators due to the reduction of pressure and temperature, gets cooled again, and returns to the boiler despite having a moderate energy level. Therefore, the use of vapor-recovery equipment can increase the efficiency of energy systems. That will lead to a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and harmful environmental effects, which increase the lifetime of energy resources.Materials and MethodsThe realizable k-ε turbulence model is used to simulate turbulence within the flow. The thermo-compressor geometry has meshed in 2D and 3D modes to apply the conservation laws. For this purpose, quadratic (quad) and hexahedral (hex) types are used for two and three-dimensional meshing, respectively. Structured meshes have a high ability to obtain numerical results due to creation of structural meshes in the flow direction.The axisymmetric structure of the thermo-compressor leads to a half simulation of geometry. The thermodynamic properties of the input flows and their variations in the output, such as pressure, velocity, Mach number, and mass ratios for different motive steam pressure are extracted and discussed.Results and DiscussionDifferent levels of meshes are examined to investigate the mesh-independence test. In axisymmetric two-dimensional analysis, these levels include 33460, 51340, 78620, and 103590 cells, respectively. The relatively insignificant difference in motive flow for the third and fourth mesh levels (which proves less than 5%) clearly shows the independence of the results from the mesh size. Regarding the time considerations, the grid with 78,620 meshes was used in the simulations.The experimental data from the article by Sriveerakul et al. (2007) are used to validate the numerical results of the present work. Validation shows that the results obtained from the simulations are in good agreement with the experimental data. Since the final results of the two-dimensional analysis are very close to the three-dimensional one, the first one is selected due to the time considerations and higher computational costs of the three-dimensional mesh analysis.Considering the problem conditions, pressures of 10 and 15 bars are appropriate for practical application. Since the 15 bar motive stem creates a longer development length in the diffuser section, it is a better choice. At this level (15 bar), the temperature field within the thermo-compressor is well distributed in the presence of ideal temperature conditions. The ideal velocity distribution within the thermo-compressor and the uniformity of the motive and suction flows indicate the high performance of the thermo-compressor in these operating conditions. Applying the motive steam of 15 bars, the values of 0.59 and 0.41 for the motive and suction mass ratios of the diffuser output were achieved, respectively.ConclusionGeometrically, the study was examined in asymmetrical two-dimension and three-dimension. It was observed that there is a slight difference between the two analysis modes by comparing the velocities along the longitudinal line of the thermo-compressor. Therefore, to save computational and time costs, results are presented for the axisymmetric two-dimensional mode.The effect of 4 levels of motive steam pressure on the thermodynamic properties within the computational domain, including pressure, temperature, velocity, Mach number, mass ratios of both motive steam, and suction vapor are evaluated. Finally, the values of the performance curve for steam with motive pressures of 3.7, 5, 10, and 15 bars are presented.
A. Rezvanivand fanaei; A. Hasanpour; A. M. Nikbakht
Abstract
IntroductionLarge industrial factories often discharge significant quantities of low-pressure steam (dead steam) into the atmosphere, which causes energy losses. Retaining low-pressure steam content reduces boiler load, resulting in energy savings and lower costs for the fuel consumption (for example, ...
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IntroductionLarge industrial factories often discharge significant quantities of low-pressure steam (dead steam) into the atmosphere, which causes energy losses. Retaining low-pressure steam content reduces boiler load, resulting in energy savings and lower costs for the fuel consumption (for example, gas consumption bill in a factory). The boosted-pressure steam is used in processes such as distillation, hot water production, space heating or vacuum generation. If the vapor pressure for the intended application is low, a thermo-compressor is able to increase the pressure and temperature to the required level. Thermo-compressors are a special type of gas compressor that uses an actuator to compress secondary fluid and does not have any blades or moving parts. The accurate prediction of the thermo-compressor performance improves the reliability of this process and increases its efficiency.Materials and MethodsTwo important characteristics for the current thermo-compressors are entrainment ratio (ER) and compression ratio (CR). The first is the dimensionless mass flow rate, and the second is the dimensionless pressure. The wet steam theory as a classic theory is used by Wolmer-Frankel-Zeldovich to calculate the amount of liquid particles. In order to select the best geometry for the thermo-compressor among all possible geometries, the performance of each model must be compared with other models. In following, the case that includes characteristic parameters associated with the target values has been selected.The commercial Ansys Fluent Versions 15, based on the finite volume method (FVM) was used to simulate and monitoring the flow behavior inside the thermo-compressor. The governing partial differential equations (PDE) were solved implicitly using a density-based solution. The convective heat transfer terms were discriminated based on the second-order upwind scheme. The non-linear governing equations were solved using the implicit coupling solver and the standard wall function was used near the wall. Given the three-dimensional flow for steam, the equations of mass conservation, momentum, and energy were written. The Realizable model was used to simulate turbulences in the flow.Results and DiscussionA summary of the results is presented in terms of the results of pressure, velocity magnitude, Mach number and temperature. A general understanding of this characteristic for a thermo-compressor is extremely important for recognizing the fluid flow inside it, and it is very useful for practical use. Pressure is the most important factor in the recharge section of a thermo-compressor. Increasing the recharge vapor pressure in a thermos-compressor revival the dead steam and increases the steam efficiency. The revival steam can be used in other parts because of their high thermal content. Another important factor in the study of flow behavior inside the thermocouple is velocity magnitude. This quantity, which is closely related to the concept of momentum inside the thermocouple, had high influences from high pressure inputs as well as the thermo-compressor geometry. The highest amount of velocity occurs after the initial nozzle and had a very high magnitude (1000 ms-1), which was also remarkably high in Monnet's terms. Another important characteristic of a flow is the temperature of the stream. The high input temperature associated with motive vapor at the outlet of the primary nozzle was sharply reduced, even in some section reached to 110 °Kelvin. Due to the very high flow momentum in this section, the fluid phase remained gas and it can be justified from the point of view of the fluid dynamics.ConclusionConsidering the importance of thermodynamic properties of steam in conversion and industries, it would be extremely beneficial to fully understand the interactions inside the thermocouple compressor. The importance of the discussed characteristics is more specific when there is a close relationship between each of these factors and energy consumption in a factory or in any industrial production unit. It was observed that the designed thermos-compressor was able to increase the velocity and temperature in a desirable range for the conversion of non-consumable vapor to the pressure and temperature. It was concluded that the Realizable model due to the prediction of the jet characteristics appearing in the flow regimes for axial symmetry had a high ability to simulate fluid flows inside the thermos-compressor.
